Swimmer Seebohm battles 'year from hell'

When Emily Seebohm couldn't even beat her 12-year-old brother in her pet swimming stroke, she knew she'd hit rock bottom.
Seebohm has had the preparation from hell leading into next week's world championships in Shanghai, a meet she feared she would have to miss at one stage after a long line of illnesses.
Seebohm was struck down by swine flu before the trials in April, where she passed out from exhaustion and was well below her best.
But that turned out to be just the beginning.
Since then, she has been hit with a bad case of tonsillitis, bronchitis and, only two weeks ago, was struck down with pancreatitis, hospitalising her for the second time this year and seeing her lose 3kg, which she has since put back on.
"This preparation hasn't been my best, clearly," Seebohm said on Monday.
"But I'm working through it and doing the best I can with the situation I've been given.
"For me, it's going to be a bit of just getting through the meet and also seeing where I'm at and what I can do, but it's all for next year and I guess this is just not my year."
Seebohm will swim in the 50m and 100m backstroke in Shanghai and takes comfort in the fact she clocked the fifth-fastest 100m backstroke time in the world this year (59.77) at last month's meet in Santa Clara, despite being hit with what was later diagnosed as pancreatitis.
But she admits 2011 had taken its toll on her mentally and doubts had crossed her mind about whether she would ever be back to her old self.
"There was about a month that I went through where I was pretty down and I thought that I wasn't going to get any better," said Seebohm, who won eight medals at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
"There was a point that I went 40 (seconds) for a 50m backstroke - that was my lowest point.
"It was pretty heart-breaking trying your hardest and going 40 when my brother does that for breaststroke and he's 12."
Seebohm, one of Australia's most versatile and promising swimmers, remains focused on the bigger prize at next year's London Olympics.
But understandably, she's reluctant to look too far ahead.
"Lots of people have said, even after swine flu, 'you'll be right. You won't get anything'. Then I got another four things after that," she said.
"So every time someone says that, I kind of cringe and think 'don't jinx me'.
"It's all about seeing how it goes and seeing how this meet goes and trying to stay healthy as much as possible."
What remains strong, though, is her love of the sport - and fierce competitiveness.
"It's just about getting back in the water and doing something that I love to do," she said.
"And even though I was going 40 and my brother was beating me ... getting my brother back was the best part of it."